Around Us 02-26-2008

Published 6:00 pm, Monday, February 25, 2008

Amarillo Globe-News carrier Cathy Banes, while making her regular morning deliveries, discovered a 1999 Honda Civic that had crashed into a house at 3216 Hawthorne St.

Police received her call at 4:48 a.m. Officers later found the body of Judith Lynn Barclay, 55, of Amarillo inside the 1999 Honda Civic.

Banes said she waited at the scene until police and paramedics arrived, then completed her newspaper route and returned 15 to 20 minutes later to learn about the woman's death.

The car's packed interior made visibility difficult, she said.

"She had a lot of stuff in the car. I don't know if she was moving or what," Banes said.

Banes, a newspaper carrier for 13 years, said her first thought was that a drunken driver had crashed his car and walked away.

Banes said she was heartsick to hear of the woman's death.

Sgt. Randy TenBrink of the Amarillo Police Department said a neighbor told police he heard a crash about 9 p.m. the night before, but was unable to see anything.

TenBrink said police investigators believe the car sat there from 9 p.m. Sunday until Banes discovered it early the next morning.

Investigators have not determined if the woman died prior to the crash or from injuries sustained upon impact, TenBrink said.

TenBrink said Randall County Judge Ernie Houdashell ordered an autopsy to be performed in Lubbock.

The investigation is ongoing, TenBrink said.  Amarillo Globe-News

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AMARILLO  Tom Shelley knew something like this could happen.

The Amarillo man clung to hope Monday as veterinarians continued to work on his paint horse, Shadow. Just three days earlier, the mare was attacked by a pit bull that scaled a 6-foot wooden fence surrounding Shelley's property.

Shelley and animal control officials believe Shadow threw herself between the dog and her 8-month-old filly.

"She was trying to protect her baby," he said.

Doctors worked Monday to save Shadow's left eye, which also was injured in the attack. It was too early to say whether her vision could be saved.

The dog was captured Friday. Edwina and Jerry Lynn Ratliff turned over their ownership rights of the dog and it was euthanized Monday, said Mike McGee, director of Amarillo's Animal Control Department.

No one was cited in the incident.

Jerry Lynn Ratliff said that while he felt "partly responsible," his 40-pound male pit bull, named Boss, was not aggressive. He conceded that Boss invaded the Shelleys' property but believes Shadow's injuries came from barbed wire fencing, not his dog.

Shelley said he saw the dog hop his fence as he was hauling a load of hay behind his home on the 1500 block of East Bonita Avenue around 4 p.m. The dog ran straight at Misty, Shadow's filly.

Shelley said Shadow and his other horses encircled Misty and fought back.

Shelley fired a .45-caliber pistol at Boss, but missed.

The dog and the horses all ran into a pen elsewhere on the property. The horses managed to get out of the pen unharmed; Shelley locked Boss inside until authorities arrived.

This wasn't the first time the dog had tried to make its way to the horses, animal control records show.

Animal control officers were called to the Shelley residence about a month ago when a dog was spotted attempting to climb the fence. That time, Shelley used a stick to shoo the dog off the property.

A warning was issued, but no one was ticketed because it was determined that no law was violated, said Jim Liggitt, an animal control field supervisor.

The Shelleys say they repeatedly asked the Ratliffs to raise the fence and to do more to keep Boss off their property.

Ratliff said he installed sheet metal on his side of the fence and thought that would do the trick.

Ratliff said handing over Boss to animal control officials Friday was "the toughest thing I've ever had to do." Last year, he had to euthanize the family's 10-year-old Rotweiller when it developed cancer.

The Animal Control Department responded to 37,639 calls in 2007, compared with 37,742 the year before, according to department records.

LUBBOCK  The daughter of a former president, who as a child was shielded from the public eye, proudly touted her mother's will to bring sweeping change to America as its 44th president in a Monday evening question and answer session at Texas Tech.

Chelsea Clinton, her voice hoarse from campaigning, shared Hillary Clinton's plans to set up a universal health care system, end the war in Iraq, reform foreign policy, invite millions of illegal immigrants from the shadows, and make higher education affordable.

Hundreds of Tech students and Lubbock residents attended the evening campaign.

Chelsea, who turns 28 this Wednesday, answered dozens of questions until she said her voice ran out. People sat in aisles and leaned against walls to hear her speak in a room on the upper floor of the Student Union Building. At times, she was warm and funny, joking about her monotone wardrobe, but mostly she focused on her mother's views.

Chelsea made her first visit to Lubbock in an effort to get voters to commit to her mother early in a tight Democratic primary race. Clinton is competing against Illinois Sen. Barack Obama.

Early voting in Texas will last through Friday.

Tech student Naomi Kaskela arrived early to hear the daughter of former President Bill and Hillary Clinton.

Chelsea said her mother would take 60 days to formulate a plan to end the war in Iraq, if she is elected. She would then bring one to two brigades home a month until American troops are home, Chelsea said.

She would rely on the diplomacy of the 1990s, such as business credits and elimination of educational fees, to bring peace to Iraq.

Applause erupted in the room as Chelsea reiterated her mother's plan to make higher education more affordable. She believes it could be done by expanding federal grants and tax credits for students and ending what Chelsea described as a cumbersome federal financial aid application.

Of No Child Left Behind, Chelsea said, "Nothing in that equation is good." Her mother, she said, would get rid of the accountability program in favor of pre-K education and create incentives for high performance.

If elected, her mother would immediately launch a world-wide tour to repair foreign relations, Chelsea also said.

She summarized Hillary's health care plan, which would open up the congressional health care plan.  Lubbock Avalanche-Journal